Andrew Miller and the Gang on stepping stones from cranneyanthony flickrstream
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Numbers will bring you back to try another stepping stone.
Stepping Stones to Success in your Law Assignments
Use the Help you are Given
Lecturers devote an enormous amount of care and
attention to your unit sites and handbooks it is silly
not to use them.
Reading lists particularly detailed week by week
readings will give you lots of sources for your
research.
Your lectures and seminars will give additional
guidance both on specific subjects and ways of
tackling your research so do note what is said it may
not appear in handouts.
Read and Analyse the Question
Make sure you understand the question, the library
has specialist legal dictionaries to help but if you
are unclear at this point make sure you contact
your seminar tutor as early as possible. You must be
clear about the area of law involved
Look at the wording does the question require a
totally academic, theoretical approach? In this case
books and articles may be your main sources.
OR
Is it a problem question, skeleton argument etc.
which requires a strictly legal approach? Then you
need to rely on primary sources.
Start with the Basics
Whichever type of question start with a good
textbook which gives you a general overview of the
subject area.
Try looking at a couple and relating them to any
relevant lecture and seminar notes
Look at the way they treat your topic then focus on
key cases and legislation.
Practice reading actively taking notes, questioning
assumptions, checking your interpretations of legal
terminology.
Follow through on references
Textbooks give you lots of leads to follow but if you go
to the relevant primary sources in a good quality
database you will find many more references.
Evaluate everything you intend to use in your essay is
this the best possible source for this specific
purpose is up to date, has it been overturned, has
it been amended, revised is it a legal or academic
authority on the subject.
Start writing
Using the material you have found adopt a suitable
structure and decide where and how you are going to
use your best and most relevant sources.
Initially you might find you have to re-check the
sources as you get more experience you will make
sure your notes include full references.
Check each section is addressing the assignment
question. If there are grey areas around
interpretation make sure you have dealt with them.
Check the sources you are referencing do they match
what you decided would be your priority sources for
this assignment? If not try strengthening your
sources.
Add the Finishing Touches
Re-read the assignment instructions and check your
layout and referencing are as requested. Use the
library Referencing@Portsmouth tool to check
how your footnote and in text citations should
look.
Take a break.
Reread the assignment from start to finish and use
those active reading skills to spot typos or flaws
in reasoning, weakness in arguments. Amend
where possible.
Don’t get lost in the wood!
If you feel you are not finding the right information
or you can not access something the library is
always there to help.
Don’t drown in information!
The secret of success is quality not quantity.
Use the best sources available for the type of
assignment you are doing.
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Don’t Keep Circling the Same Maze
Don’t concentrate on your mark. Collect and read your feedback.
Ask your tutors about any feedback you don’t understand .
Select one or two positive comments and look for strengths you can exploit in
future assignments.
Select one or two points to concentrate on improving in your next assignment.
Seek appropriate help on research and referencing from the library.
and on writing to an assignment from your Faculty Study Support Tutors or ASK.
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Use blue links throughout to find out more.
Numbers will bring you back to try another stepping stone
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Articles are peer reviewed, i.e. the quality of the
article has been reviewed by an editorial board.
Use these when you know that you
want very specific, academic information.
They are published regularly,
usually monthly or quarterly.
They may be in printed
or electronic format.
You can use tools called databases
to help you search the contents
of these & other types of journal.
If you are an undergraduate,
you are unlikely to browse
scholarly journals.
Scholarly Journal Articles
They contain articles,
written by academics.
The sources used to write
the articles are included
at the end in a Reference
List or Bibliography.
You can find scholarly articles
in any subject area by searching
Heinonline, Lexis , Westlaw
Google Scholar
Format may be printed
or electronic.
Use these when you want an introduction
to a topic area. You are unlikely to read a
book from cover to cover. Use the contents
page & index to help you locate what you
want to find out about.
The book may be edited &
divided into chapters which are
written by different authors
but relate to the main theme.
Use your reading lists to find books
recommended by your lecturer.
Contact Study Support Tutors or
ASK for help to develop active
reading skills.
They present well established ideas
& theories & usually cover a
broad topic area in considerable detail.
Textbooks
Textbooks are reviewed by an editorial
board so you can trust that the content
is reliable & accurate.
Find out what books are available by
searching the Discovery Service or COPAC .
You may find some online ‘e-books’, using
Ebrary, Dawsonera & MyiLibrary.
Beauty of Reading from Law8r photostream
The Union Flag 'Union Jack' UK Flag 326 from Ree Saunders photostream
UK Legislation
Acts are Primary legislation passed
by Parliament. Statutory Instruments
are Secondary legislation.
Lexis, & Westlaw are good sources for
current legislation as they incorporate
changes in law as soon as possible &
highlight if there are amendments
pending. The latter also has a feature
which can roll bank amendments but
this stops at 1992.
Acts & Statutory Instruments are Primary law
sources referred to collectively as legislation.
Every new piece of legislation impacts
on previous legislation in the same
area, Therefore you need to be
absolutely clear whether you are
looking at law as passed (historic law)
or law as now enforced (current law)
or law under discussion or scheduled
for amendment (proposed law).
BAILII & legislation.gov.uk are not as
reliable for current legislation as they
are still at varying stages of revision. The
latter however helpfully provides a pdf
of the original act so is useful for historic
law.
Law Reports
Law Reports are Primary law sources for
UK law but Secondary sources for EU law.
UK Law Reports show the law in action
& demonstrate how UK legislation is
interpreted by the courts they can
therefore influence later decisions.
Find out more about law report series.
how they are written, how to find them
or the lighter side of law.
EU Law Reports may include:Decisions which treat very specific
cases & only bind those to whom they
are addressed but may influence later
legislation
Recommendations & Opinions which
have no binding force but do carry
moral & political weight.
BAILII is a useful source for official transcripts
of cases so may have some information very
quickly. Remember these are unedited &
contain no helpful links to other cases or
legislation nor do they indicate if a judgement
has been overturned.
Jordan's, Lexis & Westlaw each provide a
range of law reports (including some
European series). These have a number of
editorial features, which are preferred by
judges (ICLR in particular). Why worry?
They also register later treatment of cases by
judges.
Heinonline provides access to the older
English (or Nominate reports). These are a
178 volumes by named authors which cover
cases back to 1220. Often confusingly
abbreviated.
Law Reports from onshi's photostream